Starfuckers – Metallic Diseases [Reissue]

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Nothing says a love of punk rock like rare vinyls getting appropriate reissue treatment. Acts like The Stooges and Refused have met the new culture with ravaging five-star intensity this past year, so without further ado, we introduce another landmark for your palatable platters and portable players: Starfuckers.

The Italian rock regime later known as Sinistri is something of a musical obscurity to modern-day listeners, and much like old pieces of memorabilia like Sub Pop 200, Metallic Diseases is a relic that makes me think this article should be more of a “Wait, You Haven’t Heard…” exposé. This is a case of “If I haven’t heard it, it’s new to me,” and boy does that shine through like the glimmer of a wallet-chained mosher in the stage lighting.

At face value, Metallic Diseases is that link between whatever inspired early Soundgarden and the age of aggro; the frays are functionally elegant as always, producing major steam without ever once losing their edge. From the kick-ass opening of “Love You” and the MotÃ¶rhead chug of “Dead Metal City Blues” to the temperate-yet-certifiable “Cans” and Sex Pistols-esque “The Right Side”, this short and sweet trinket of European punk rock solidifies the ideals of how true aggression and lo-fi can make you so fucking authentic.

If nothing else gains your attention, may I direct you to the most ridiculously cool album closer for a punk record: the go-go dance of devils, “Flower Lover”. Do I know what its purpose is? Not a damn clue, but those killer horns bring sufficient “Kill the Sex Player” memories flooding back.

To extensively analyze Metallic Diseases as a reissue, or even as an original piece of music from 1990, does it zero justice and renders Starfuckers nothing but fodder for my thesis. Sonically speaking, you could pop this into your car stereo by any peripheral necessary and still get some semblance of crackling static in the grooves. Translations that smooth do not come around every day, so accept what the heart and mind are relaying to you: a time machine.

As Prefixmag‘s Dan Nishimoto pointed out, there is significant history laid upon a Starfuckers/Sinistri presence, a history that even the shouted redundancy of an Anti-Flag-style “U.S.A.” or a debut-releasing Offspring nuance like “Cold White Cancer” cannot overshadow. This band is akin to what any radical-thinking person would call a generation with actual purpose, lodged in the aftermath of WWII-era Bologna. This sort of information is no longer lost on deaf ears in a world where data is free and universally accessible, and Starfuckers’ Metallic Diseases is the echo of that period long before our own.

Gentlemen, ladies? We donate another rescued casualty of evolution/devolution shuffles in the music trends: Metallic Diseases. Kudos to Starfuckers for that and for a most awesome original band moniker.